PNoy Orders DOH to Locate 200 Plane Passengers

President Benigno S. Aquino III has directed the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force MERS-CoV to intensify efforts in locating and contacting more than 200 passengers of the April 15 Etihad Airways flight EY0424 who have not been tested for the disease.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said that as of 12 noon Tuesday, 247 of the 414 passengers (or 59.7 percent) have been contacted.

Nose and throat swabs from 163 passengers have already been collected and processed. Of this number, 100 passengers tested negative for the MERS-CoV.

Results for the 63 other passengers are still pending, Coloma said. He said the President has instructed the DOH to ensure that all the passengers undergo a free nose and throat swabbing tests for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in public hospitals or DOH-accredited medical facilities.

He reiterated the government’s call for the more than 200 passengers of Flight EY0424 to coordinate directly with the DOH through its 24-hour hotlines: 711-1001; 711-1002; 0922-884-1564; 0920-949-8419; and 0915-772-5621.

The Bureau of Quarantine’s alert bulletin for Filipinos and foreign nationals traveling to and from countries in the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates) stands.

Coloma said the government effort to locate and contact the passengers is in accordance with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) protocol in dealing with communicable or infectious diseases.

“Ang protocol kasi ng WHO hinggil dito dapat ay matunton ang lahat ng mga carrier through active surveillance and they should undergo testing, dahil may 14-day incubation period ito,” Coloma said.